You guys don't know the story of how the bronies started? Ahem.
A long time ago, two years in the real world (but we all know that might as well be an eon in internet years), 4chan's /co/ board (centered around cartoons and comics) was graced with a thread about the new series of My Little Pony. The user posted That Pic of the Mane 6 and Celestia, but the tread failed to gain initial attention and almost died.
Almost.
The guy came back, and bumped his thread back to the front page, where it garnered a massive amount of feedback.
Think about that. Two years of content, the fastest-growing fandom in existence, all because one guy decided to bump his own thread. That little bump had a bigger impact than most of the decisions you and I have made in the last fifteen years combined.
So /co/ watched the first 'sode and thought it was pretty cool. A week of reaction images and many amused /co/horts later, the board was hooked. There was a schism in the board, of course. A good deal of /co/ loved the show, but pressure from /v/, the Video Games board, forced /co/ to expel the ponies to a massive battleground. Pardon my rule-breaking.
The bronies departed to /b/, the Random board, where a massive war raged. Pony threads, pony-gore threads, raged on. With no home in /co/, the bronies eventually found solace in sites like Equestria Daily in January of '11, and Ponychan later in the year. All throughout 2011, bronies grew en masse. 2012, the sheer size of the fandom was put to the test in the year of Conventions. Countless meetups, conventions, and merch flooded the fandom, a cascading source of new content to share with the other bronies and ponyf@gs.
In February of 2012, moot finally opened /mlp/, the pony board on 4chan. The only board, other than Pokemon, to be entirely dedicated to one specific media. Mind you, Pokemon is a 10+ year titan, while Friendship is Magic is just over two years old.
Bronies, by now, are accepted by the mainstream media, the 90% of them leading quiet fandom lives. /co/ has long-since forgiven their exiled bastion, and /v/ continues to be trolled by ponifications of Fallout, Starcraft, Mass Effect, and announcements of particular Gabens hoof-ish influence.
2. It has kindness
What's wrong with kindness? Kindness is an uplifting trait in a world that I find dominated by negative materials. While I do a deal of doling out the harshness from time to time, it is always comforting to find something pure and sweet to return to.
-Chillz
